The report examined the theory and the evidence behind both Sexual Risk Avoidance Abstinence Education and Sexual Risk Reduction, or so-called Comprehensive Sex Education and concluded that abstinence education is the superior approach and one that deserves policy priority.

The report goes on to recommend that abstinence education: “is a better approach, because it is built on sound theory and empirical evidence.”

According to a new, definitive two-part report from the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), “The Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) approach, sometimes called the Abstinence-centered approach, is effective, supported by parents, and is a message more and more teens are adopting in their own lives.”

Largely misrepresented, SRA education is more than just about saying “no.” Abstinence-centered and holistic, the SRA strategy offers skill-building topics such as goal setting and future orientation, healthy decision making, building assets, avoiding negative peer pressure, and human development.

By contrast, the sexual risk reduction (SRR) model, often known as the “comprehensive” approach, “is built on the premise that teens either cannot, or will not, abstain from sex; therefore they must learn to take ‘precautions’ that will decrease their risk of becoming pregnant.”

Moreover, the majority of teens themselves are supportive of the abstinence message. Specifically:

•62 percent of teens say that it is against their values to have sex before marriage;
•75 percent of teens believe that having sex would make life difficult;
•84 percent of teens oppose sex at their age; and
•69 percent of teens oppose sex while in high school.

State legislators in Tennessee have made it official: Sex toys and graphic promotions of sexual activity are not welcome in public schools.

With the signing into law of SB 3310 by Gov. Bill Haslam, public schools that teach sex education classes must emphasize abstinence, and teachers are barred from promoting "gateway sexual activity" that encourages students to sexually experiment.

The Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACTN) documented a 2010 incident at Hillsboro High School in Nashville when a speaker with Nashville CARES, an AIDS awareness and education program, taught a sex education class at the school. The speaker used anatomically correct models to show students how to perform a graphic sex act. FACTN also noted that in some schools, Planned Parenthood presented sexual education curriculum that included links to its national website.

[Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said] that some organizations claim they teach abstinence, but their curriculum goes in a decidedly different direction.